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Atheist GAF: Your moment of realization

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18/19 when I realised. I was scared out of my mind at one point because I thought I had something life threataning. What made it worse was that I was attracted to guys. I literally lay awake at night thinking I was going to hell. Thankfully I got the all clear in the end but after that I started asking why would I be punished for something that was so naturally a part of me and I had no control over. In the end I did my own research and eventually wound up looking at science and finally seeing the bullshit for myself. Now I can't stand religion and what it does to people.
 
I went to Catholic schools from kindergarten up until college. Part of the required curriculum every year was a class on religion. One day in my freshman year of high school, my "values and morals" class teacher made us watch a virulently anti-abortion propaganda film. The film was such a blatant and shameless piece of propaganda (e.g., it had a scene of evil abortionists literally cackling over a rich banquet in an opulent mansion) that so contradicted what I knew to be true of the world (e.g., doctors that performed abortions were called gynecologists and obstetricians and not "abortionists", they didn't live in mansions, but in the subdivision down the street, and they were just as inoffensively nice as the rest of our neighbors) that for the first time in my life I sat down and gave some serious thought to everything I'd ever learned in a religion class up until that point. If they were lying about Dr. James and the care he gave to his patients, what else were they lying about?

After that point I started thinking and reading more about religious doctrine and dogma (not just Roman Catholic, but all the other religions I'd learned about over the years, as well as my own religious tradition (Greek Orthodox). I read more religious and general history, as well as some philosophy (Euthyphro dilemma, etc.). I spent several years thinking about the problem of evil, and especially the problem of suffering, which still, in my mind, are the strongest philosophical arguments against god. What I was learning about animal and human development in biology class also contributed to the growing realization that there wasn't a god out there, at least not a god in the way Christianity or any of the other major world religions described him.

I got to college and majored in government (political science) and studied more political philosophy. Learned about Plato's "noble lie" and with amusement and annoyance I realized how many of the religious and political leaders in our society appeared to subscribe to the concept, all while preaching about democracy and the will of the majority.

And on a personal level, I realized I could be good without god (it didn't take me until college to realize this, btw :lol ). I could make rational decisions about how to treat other people and hew to a moral code without basing my thoughts and actions in the concept of a invisible divine Watcher. I could experience awe at a parent's love for a child or in a beautiful landscape without having to rely on the idea that god made either. That was and is an enormously powerful realization for me. It felt like I had finally grown up. To go back to Plato again, I felt like I'd come out of the cave.

At this point, I don't hate religion. I actually find it pretty interesting as a cultural and sociological phenomenon. I do know that I've outgrown any emotional need I have for it. (I still go to church on occasion since I like hearing Greek and watching the liturgy - it's like a little piece of Byzantium has been transported right to my neighborhood. :lol) I've accepted the fact that one day I will die and that will be the end of my consciousness. That makes me sad since I love being alive, and the world, even with all its misery, is an amazing place, but it's still better (for me at least), than believing in the lie that I'll meet all my loved ones again after death. All I can do is love my friends and family as much as I can right now, since this life is all I will ever get.
 
elrechazao said:
Curious, what scientific proof is this, and what does it conclusively disprove about religion "completely"? Also, "evidence of proof"? For someone who seems to swear by science, this isn't a logically tenable statement at all.
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There's no proof that can disprove God/Religion because by the very nature of their proposed existance they are outside the rules

Which is, you know, bullshit
 
Tobor said:
Right around the time I figured out Santa Claus wasn't real. 7 or 8.
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Funny enough it was almost the same with me.

I was about 4 or 5 tho and me starting to see thing as obvious as they were I asked my grandma why people keep telling me to be good if not Santa won't bring presents when in fact mom and dad and everyone else just takes me to the store and buys em for me not Santa. She answered my question by smaking me across the face and told me not to be disrespectful. :lol


My family was catholic and later on my dad once remarried converted to one of those cult like christian sects. Where he pretty much told me everyday I'm possed and a demon child. I was about 13 or so that pretty much cemented my belief and religion is a joke.
 
Within the last year or two, when I read and heard specific quotes, and educated myself in some books.

Someone also introduced me to Christopher Hitchens.

It was pretty much over at that point.
 
I always had questions about how ridiculous some of the things sounded. It wasn't really solidified until I read The God Delusion. I do remember however, that when I was young I was watching some sports show and the sports star referred to himself as a 'god fearing Christian man.'. At that moment I was like WTF? Why would you fear a guy who's supposed to be your savior? Someone supposed to love you and have only good things in store for you-and you are supposed to be scared shitless of him.
 
when i was like 10-12, i went fishing at a lake with a couple of local satan worshippers (hardcore, i think they sacrificed cats and shit). we weren't catching any fish at all for hours, so i kinda went out of their sight and prayed that i would get a BIG fish with the next third tries. and sure enough my wish was granted.. kinda. i got a really pathetic looking skinny ass pike. too small and sickly looking to keep so i let him go. poor guy..

afterwards i thought about the whole scenario long and hard and realized how absurd the idea of a god is.
 
I was never spiritual or particularly convinced that religion was true. As soon as Santa Claus and the easter bunny were called into question it had begun.
 
I went to ccd classes as a kid. My parents said they wanted to see how I felt about it. I made confirmation and all that stuff. I never truly believe as far as I know, especially when I got older. I remember sometimes I would bring my GBA in a play Metroid. :lol

I guess the thing that really made me say no way was a few years ago. My grandma passed away from cancer and she wanted a church ceremony. The priest was saying stuff like, God says it was her time. He wanted her in the kingdom of heaven. Stuff like that. I though to myself, why did god make her suffer in pain for 6 months? Doesn't seem very merciful to me. That's my story I guess.
 
I was raised Catholic. Went to Catholic school from kindergarten through fifth grade, went to mass twice a week (on sunday like normal and I think wednesday during school).

I can't say if I ever really believed. I don't remember taking it seriously at any point. It was just... something I had to do. My dad was an atheist and rarely came with to mass (never at all after a few years), and my mom was only Catholic because she felt she had to be because of her own upbringing, I think.

At this point, my whole family has abandoned it for more than a decade. Even my grandparents no longer care, if they ever really did. I think that the only really religious members of my family are dead, and so the ones left behind don't have to pretend any more :P
 
Jintor said:
There's no proof that can disprove God/Religion because by the very nature of their proposed existance they are outside the rules

Which is, you know, bullshit
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Well, 1. I don't disagree with what you said, but 2. That's not what he said at all.
 
How many times do we have to have this thread?

Arnie said:
As I believe it there is no moment of realization for being an Atheist, to me it is just a natural progression of a clear thinking mind. There is evidence of scientific proof which completely disproves religion which should be all the realization anybody ever needs, however we live in a world where peoples hope clouds peoples rational thinking.

There is no proof for religion, there is proof for evolution. As our understanding of the universe and physics improves there will no doubt be more contradictory evidence but still people will go on believing these ancient stories as truth.
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What is evidence of scientific proof? I don't understand what that means.
 
I was thirteen I think, first year of highschool. Was talking to a white friend of mine and asked him if he was going to church on Sunday. He said his family didn't go to church, that they didn't believe in God. That was the first I've ever heard of someone doing that - I actually didn't know you COULD do that. Shortly afterwards, I came to the same conclusion myself.
 
I'm pretty sure my mother is Christian, but my parents never talked religion or politics with us kids. They probably had the idea that we should carve our own path through life or some such. I kinda wish that I had a moment of realization, because it seems like a neat experience to have.
 
Having religion forced onto me as a kid, I would recite prayers in a group that said something along the lines of "God, open my lips so I can declare your glory"...
I never felt more like a robot in my life. I was 8 or so.
 
Never believed to begin with. I guess its due to the inability of teachers when i was a child to answer questions with credible answers instead of "no one knows the will of the lord " bullshit replies.
 
In 8th grade speech class, we were doing a debate on euthanasia, and the girl on the opposing side asked if I believed in god. The question took me back because it never occurred to me before. I went ahead and said yes, but I kept thinking about it over and over afterwards.
 
Zoe said:
In 8th grade speech class, we were doing a debate on euthanasia, and the girl on the opposing side asked if I believed in god. The question took me back because it never occurred to me before. I went ahead and said yes, but I kept thinking about it over and over afterwards.
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Wow, you must have lived in a very sheltered, small community that hadn't heard of God before to not have thought about that before the age of 13...?

If I have kids I'm just going to teach them values that I live by without the extra weight of thinking about God. I am curious how growing up that way would have changed my outlook.
 
FleckSplat said:
Wow, you must have lived in a very sheltered, small community that hadn't heard of God before to not have thought about that before the age of 13...?
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No, I hadn't heard of the concept of not believing in god up until that point.

I wasn't raised religious at all. God was just a concept that everyone else around me believed in, so I accepted it as the norm.
 
Zoe said:
No, I hadn't heard of the concept of not believing in god up until that point.

I wasn't raised religious at all. God was just a concept that everyone else around me believed in, so I accepted it as the norm.
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Ah it's funny ,there was a muslim girl in my class in middle school that was shocked to learn that we didn't believe in any god.
 
Zoe said:
No, I hadn't heard of the concept of not believing in god up until that point.

I wasn't raised religious at all. God was just a concept that everyone else around me believed in, so I accepted it as the norm.
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Oh, I see. Total misread on my part. :lol
 
I'm more interested in people's family & friends difficulties stories. I was probably relatively lucky since I had a 'Lake Wobegon'-style mellow Lutheran upbringing so it was very much of a conflict. (My mom sure wasn't happy about it though although she is totally fine with it now.)

How bad was it when your family found out or you told them?
 
speculawyer said:
How bad was it when your family found out or you told them?
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It always bothered my dad. He never really got over it. We just talked around it. My mom didn't really care, as she was less religious. My sister still tries to turn me every so often, and my brother joined me years later.

I used it as an excuse to stop visiting my extended family, most of whom are racists or idiots.
 
Count Dookkake said:
That's a pretty good analogy for a retard.
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I'm not sure who you are calling retard here, but we've had threads like these over and over and you always hear the same thing. We all know that it was because we used a bit of logic and thinking, and shit didn't add up. Period. Why are we making 50 threads about it? It's like asking your research colleagues when they figured out that evolution isn't bullshit.
 
Not really a traditional atheist.

But for me there wasn't a moment but rather a series of them that built up over time. In mormondom there's a saying of "line up line, precept upon precept." It happen just like that for me. It's sorta funny, the mormon church teaches all these concepts that actually ended up dismantling itself. Concepts like not believing things just because you were told and should instead study and ponder and pray over it. Well I kept on trying to gain a belief in things for most of my life, I felt there was something wrong with me but it really never came. Finally I had to give myself permission to see that perhaps I wasn't gaining a personal belief because it wasn't true. It seems silly now that it took so long, but really you're raised to believe that if you don't have a strong belief there's something wrong with you. They ask you to find the answer for yourself, so long as you find their answer. The mormon church also taught me that every person had a personal relationship with god. But then that lead to the belief that if everyone had a personal relationship with god, they who was anyone to tell anyone else what that relationship should be.

In the end I think I knew for almost a decade before I gave myself permission to actually accept that I didn't believe. At first I thought that the church could still be a tool for good. I still attended church and tried to change it from the inside (which met with disastrous ends). Then after a few years I gave up and realized that people weren't interested in hearing anything that they didn't hear before. Their "inner spirit" always told them what they already believed or what they wanted to believe. But I still held on. If I couldn't change it at least I could support my wife, after all there was no harm being done, right? Well prop 8 ended that. It was then that I gave myself permission to admit that it wasn't harmless and that there was real harm being done and that the church was toxic, not just to gays but its own members. If I had a nickle for every mormon that I met that made their life a living hell over something simple like not wanting to go on a mission or were severely sexually repressed or were divorced because their spouse didn't believe as strongly as they did, I'd have mountains of nickles.
 
ultim8p00 said:
I'm not sure who you are calling retard here, but we've had threads like these over and over and you always hear the same thing. We all know that it was because we used a bit of logic and thinking, and shit didn't add up. Period. Why are we making 50 threads about it.
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So what you're saying is, "Why we still got threads?"
 
Just reading about all the various creation myths from ancient societies in history classes and how they forced religious superstition into their lives....and just drawing the conclusion that christianity has absolutely no upper hand on those religions that we look on as being certifiably insane. Same shit, different millenia, I figured.
 
ultim8p00 said:
I'm not sure who you are calling retard here, but we've had threads like these over and over and you always hear the same thing. We all know that it was because we used a bit of logic and thinking, and shit didn't add up. Period. Why are we making 50 threads about it? It's like asking your research colleagues when they figured out that evolution isn't bullshit.
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A retard may be one who thinks discussions of the two unrelated topics of the deduction of the non-existence of gods and the color of the sky have enough similarity so that the dismissal of the former hinges solely on the mention of the latter.



This is a good thread and it serves a purpose. It is fun, sometimes funny, and even heart-warming to hear tales of kids and young adults who figured out their own way, despite the strong-arm tactics of those bigger and more powerful than they. If you don't like it, you are free to post in other threads that are more to your liking or to even start a new thread of your own.
 
I just gradually shed aspects of belief through late night pondering. Took about 5 of my teenage years to fully transition from christian to atheist.
 
I am more Agnostic than Atheist, but can sway back and forth depending on events. I was born into a catholic family and my grandparents a very religious. They aren't the pushy type of religious, but you don't want to start arguing religion with them. My parents kept my brother and I religious when we were young, I appreciate that I think it helped having a bit of guidance and beliefs when young, but I gradually began to start thinking about the whole concept of religion and became detached. My parents are religious, but not hardcore, so when I began saying I didn't want to go to church they didn't protest too much as I was old enough to decide for myself.

I see why it exists, people need something to believe in, especially when bad things happen. Something to give them strength to continue, so I don't mind religion, what I do mind is people that seem to think they are 100% right and you are a terrible person if you don't believe what they do.

So in high school and such I realized that I didn't quite fit into religion any more, but wasn't sure where I was headed. Got into college and took a history of science class and begun studying Darwin, and how he was agnostic, still believing there may be some kind of extra force out there, but not necessarily a "god" and that's where I realized that is what I believed in.
 
Meh, I am more agnostic than atheist. Never really could fit God into the happenings of the world. Reconciling these differences become exhausting so I dont really care about it. However, I do understand why some people need the idea of God and in all honesty each religion has very important points on society and humanism in general.
 
Leviathan1 said:
Sounds like the definition of atheist in here is rejecting Christianity. That's not the definition. Most of you sound agnostic.
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Right. More agnostic than athiest because in all honesty who fucking knows. People who are convinced either way are fairly arrogant about the subject. in my opinion.
 
Leviathan1 said:
Sounds like the definition of atheist in here is rejecting Christianity. That's not the definition. Most of you sound agnostic.
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If you stop eating McDonald's for health reasons, you are not likely to start eating White Castle or Burger King.
 
besada said:
It always bothered my dad. He never really got over it. We just talked around it. My mom didn't really care, as she was less religious. My sister still tries to turn me every so often, and my brother joined me years later.
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Yeah, for me it was opposite with mom & dad. But I think my mom has largely dropped out of religion. She probably still believes but she doesn't go to church anymore.

Come to think of it, I really don't know what my brother & sister believe. I suspect my sister is like my mom . . . she may believe but she doesn't go to church.

My brother has a preacher as a father-in-law. So he goes along with it all. But I have no idea what his real beliefs are though.
 
I kind of never believed. Went to Catholic school grades 1 - 3 but just played along with it all. My mom isn't very religious but she believes and my grandmother (lived with them both in my younger years) is a staunch Catholic but never pushed it on me.

Lots of people seem to have a kind of eye opening moment but I don't remember one. I just never really bought it at all.
 
I remember back in the 10th grade, a girl in my class asked me to join her for some ceremony at her church. I told her I would be busy, and she responded with "Ohh, so you're too busy for our lord? You can't make time for him?"



...
 
Leviathan1 said:
Sounds like the definition of atheist in here is rejecting Christianity. That's not the definition. Most of you sound agnostic.
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Atheist = a (without) + theist (from "theism", belief in a god or gods)

If they stopped believing in the god that the family they happened to be born into happened to believe in, they are atheist.
 
Stat Flow said:
This thread has compelled me to go get The God Delusion. Good buy?
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*is a conservative Lutheran* It's a good summary. Sure. That said, don't pay attention to the theological arguments. Even atheists think they're weak and based on Sunday School theology.
 
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